ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT — SECTION B OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES — PAGES 19-21 - 1 '- BULK RATE 1 U.S. POSTAGE PAID SANIBEL,FL. 1 PERMIT #33 1 , t POSTAL PATRON Vol. 37, No. 10 Friday, March 13, 1998 Two Sections, 52 pages 75 Cents Homeward Bound Under Fire The City of Sanibei is under fire from some islanders who think they are being overregulated. ,.,...:.... Seepage 8A Vote Count Island residents overwhelm- ingly support using ad valorem taxes to pay for the sewer expansion. ;.....!... Seepage 3A Great Show, Great Cause J.T Smith will present Come Rain or Come Shine as a benefit for Eden Florida on Monday, March 16. See page 9A Music, Music! Frank Wagner reviews the opening of the Sanibei Music Festival. Seepage 7B I Arts 7B Business Services.. 25A Cartoon 17A Classifieds 22-25 Commentary 16-18 Crossword 23B Fishing.................. 21B Care and Rehabilitation of Wildlife veterinarian Chris Kreuder holds a young eaglet that was blown out of its nest and apparently Police Beat 7A survived on the ground for five days. Last Friday, the eaglet had recuperated from its trauma enough to be replaced in a new nest Remember When.... 5 A built by Mark "Bird" Westall. Photo/Anita Pinden 2A • Friday, March 13, 1998 • ISLANDER Sanibel Elementary School presents SEAHORSE FESTIVAL '98 Sunday, March 15 Noon til 4:00 p.m. rain or shine at Sanlhef Elementary School/Rec Center San-Cap Road, SanSbef Fun for the whole family! Children 2^un3'ei7Iree Children 3-14: $5 (includes unlimited admission to games) Adults: $1 FUN RUN Registration at 11:15 a.m. Run begins at 11:30 a.m. SILENT AUCTION Merchandise from dozens of local shops • Dinners at local restaurants • Stays at area resorts Theater tickets * Artwork by renowned area artists • Kayak rentals • Golf outings • Key West trips $2,500 off registration at Canterbury School Special kid's auction table BEANIE BABY BONUS: Princess Di, Peace, and many other popular Beanies GAMES • ENTERTAINMENT FOOD COURT Grilled food provided by The Timbers with side dishes from many local restaurants On Prudential Our Top Florida Realty Professionals Prudential Florida Realty, Southwest Florida's largest rel estate brokerage firm, congratulates our Sanibel/Captiva Sales Team for their outstanding performance in 1997. These proven professionals were recently acknowledged at our annual awards celebration at The Registry Resort in Naples. We're Rock Solid in Southwest Florida! James Skippy Dave Ralph Lisa Jaxon Hetmanek Strehlow Putzel DeLuca Cochrane van Beever Ed Sailer Contact one of our Island Experts today! Rentals Listing & Sales Leader 472-4000 •1-800-245-7284 1020 Periwinkle Way • Sanibel, FL 33957 Indepentently Owned and Operated ISLANDER • Friday, March 13, 1998 - 3A The Front Page Homeless eaglet gets new home ByJILLTYRER teer monitors for Lee County's ETAC — Eagle Technical Islander staff writer Advisory Committee — had been by to check the nest. The storms that El Nino has been spinning have "The foreman ... is the one who noticed the eagle in taken a toll not only on humans, but on wildlife as well, this empty lot," Kreuder said. "He really is dedicated to and a windstorm a couple weeks ago left one young eagle these eagles. He's been watching them all these years." homeless and close to death. Eagles nest in the same spot year after year and their nests For years, John Kolesa has been watching — and get enormous — and can weigh hundreds of pounds. watching over—a pair of eagles on the undeveloped prop- Care and Rehabilitation of Wildlife was called in erty he oversees off U.S. 41. In late February, when he - and volunteer Freeman Davis headed out to capture the found a young eagle on the ground, he knew it had to be eagle and deliver it to the hospital. from that nest. It was five days after a major windstorm, The bald eagle was about 8 weeks old but weighed said CROW Veterinarian Chris Rreuder. The last sighting only 5 pounds, three pounds less than it should have, of the nest had been the day before the storm, when volun- - (Continued; page 4A) A Bird in a tree: Mark "Bird" Westall climbed 50-feet, The eaglet gets a ride to the top, The eaglet sits atop its new nest. Westall and John Kolesa consult only 30 by ladder, to reach the nesting site. Photos/Graham Woody, Jim Wilson i' * " "Y'III'* rtfif Complaint filed & » hot seat HsraH I * Suspicious fire causes $45,000 in against SPD 1 11 i t \ damage at Lighthouse restrooms ByJILLTYRER Mb 1 ByJILLTYRER Islander staff writer W% J Islander staff writer * > Lighthouse Point beachgoers who had to use the bath- An island woman arrested recently and charged with iJIflMufl^Wftiillliilllllliri 1 1 oftlfflinlffifogprTirrfl m 1 mI room Sunday and Monday found themselves in a hot seat. driving under the influence has filed a complaint charging The bathrooms burned out early Sunday morning and that a Sanibel police officer abused her — shackling her there weren't any public restrooms in the vicinity until legs, unnecessarily tightening the handcuffs on her wrists -JHt Tuesday, when portable Johns were delivered. Some people and back-handing her across the face. had a hard time understanding that the restrooms were out A letter from Michael Hornung, the attorney repre- of service and, even as police taped off the area Sunday, at senting Jody Lynn Harker, requests an internal investiga- least one man reportedly climbed over the barricade, As- tion of what happened that night with Harker, Officer Mark sistant Fire Chief Don Frye said with a laugh. Steele, who arrested her, and Sgt. Mike Cooper, the ser- ••» geant on duty whom she says struck her. For City Parks & Recreation Director Dick Noon, (Continued, page 4A) Chief Lew Phillips received the letter Friday, Cmdr. jr John Terry said the same day. A' Cooper seemed eager to give his side of the story, A but said he had been ordered by his superiors not to com- Overwelming vote A ment on the case. He did, however, say "I'm confident that the truth will come out." B/JiLLTYRER Refusing to comment during an internal investiga- A fair with heart Islander staff writer tion is standard procedure and in compliance with state laws, ByJILLTYRER Sanibel voters overwhelmingly supported raising said Police Chief Lew Phillips. Phillips also declined to Islander staff writer ' property taxes to pay for the sewer system expansion, comment on the case, saying only that "I have complete The kids Katie Riemenschneider teaches are pretty I which means a utility tax won't go into effect confidence in the integrity of my officers." tough. ' | In a 2,105-295 vote, voters gave the City the OK to Cooper also made an audio tape when Harker was in They're the ones with severe emotional and behav- I take on up to $20 4 million in debt and to repay it from the station and he earlier told a Fort Myers News-Press ioral problems, always in trouble, many with police property taxes Of that $20.4 million, $13 million is slated reporter "you can listen to the tape and get a kind of mental records. The ones who aren't in her class because of emo- for the City's half of the sewer expansion project — indi- image of what her state was." tional problems likely are there because of psychological I viduat property owners will pay the other half—and $7 4 Terry, who is heading up the investigation, said the problems. ' million is earmarked for improvements to the existing fa- tape could not be released—even though it is public record Not exactly your Sunday school kind of student. cilities. Assistant City Manager Bill Mills, has estimated —because it is being held as evidence in the investigation. (Continued,backpage, 28A) that the total $20 4 million debt would translate to an in- According to the police report, Steele spotted a car crease of about three quarters of one mill ( 75). in the front yard of a Periwinkle Way restaurant about 8:30 Shell Fair Photos, Island Scene page 18B Approval by voters doesn't mean the City will im- p.m. Feb. 2 and when he stopped, went to the car and knocked Results, backpage 28A mediately take on $20.4 million in debt, though. It only (Continued, page 6A) (Continued, page 6A) AS Eaglet, from 3A Kreuder said. "It was just literally starved," she said, and it showed signs of "extraor- dinary stress" and related infection. She figures the nest was blown down in the storm and the chick spent the following five days on the ground. There might have been a second chick, which was not recovered. But, she added, "the other one might have. been fine." The parents would continue to try to feed their young, but the forest was thick MAILING ADDRESS with melaleuca and saw palmetto and they likely could not have gotten enough food to P.O. Box 56 • Sanibel, FL33957 the youngster — which was found a half mile from the nest site. Once in the hospital, Fax 472-5302 Scott Martell Terri Blackmore it was very submissive, tucking its head under its wing and lying down, as its parents LOCATION Editor General Manager would have taught it to do when threatened in the nest. It didn't show any signs of Promenade Center fighting back and the chick immediately ate from its caretakers — something a healthy 695 Tarpon Bay Rd Unit #13 bird would not have done very willingly. Before long, though, it started feeding itself PHONE: 472-5185 and, in the week it was at CROW, it put on two pounds and became fully feathered and ready to fledge.